KASPER SCHMEICHEL insists Celtic will blank out all talk of the Champions League glory and the forthcoming Premier Sports League Cup Final to pay full attention to Kilmarnock at Rugby Park on Sunday.
The Hoops received an avalanche of praise for their last two performances that have seen them hammer the previously unbeaten Aberdeen 6-0 at Hampden on Saturday and then RB Leipzig 3-1 in Europe’s elite competition at Parkhead four days later.
However, the applause is now despatched to the history books as far as the Danish international keeper is concerned and the challenge now is to pick up three Premiership points in Ayrshire against Derek McInnes’ side.
KASPER TO THE RESCUE…Celtic’s great Dane Schmeichel dives to deny a goalbound effort from RB Leipzig’s Christophe Baumgartner just before Reo Hatate made it 3-1.
Schmeichel, who will be making his debut on Killie’s notorious plastic pitch, said: “It’s one of those things that will obviously be discussed in the media, among fans, and as a football fan myself, you always look forward and dream, but our job is not to look beyond the next game.
“The next game deserves our full attention. If we start thinking or dividing our attention to other areas, other aspects, then we’re not paying the respect that we need to pay to the opponent that we’re up against.
“We’re not about to do that, so full focus on Kilmarnock and then whatever happens in the future happens.
“You have to take each game as it comes, you can’t go thinking of two games ahead, that just never works.
“I think we’re in a good place, the squad is good, we are playing well, playing good football and we’ve just got to keep going.”
The towering netminder, speaking to Celtic TV, continued: “You have to be on your game in every single game, there are no easy games and we are in no way expecting an easy game on Sunday.
“That’s the beauty and the challenge of playing at a club like Celtic, because you have to be able to adapt to all the different competitions you are in.
WE’RE BEHIND YOU…Kasper Schmeichel and the Celtic support during the team’s 6-0 Premier Sports League Cup semi-final triumph over Aberdeen at Hampden.
“You play in a semi-final one day, then you play in the Champions League, then you play in the league.
“You have to be able to cope with that demand, the physical demand, the mental demand, and we’ve shown all the way through the season up to now that we’ve been able to do that.”
Schmeichel, who celebrated his 38th birthday with the win over the Bundesliga giants on Tuesday, added: “And now it’s a new challenge.
“Tuesday has gone, we’re not thinking about that anymore, that was a great night, a fantastic night for all of us, but at midnight we park that and on to the next one.
“We’re not taking anything for granted. That’s a big strength in this squad, that we don’t get carried away with ourselves.
“We have to work hard, we know that going into any single game in any competition, you have to outwork the opposition – if you don’t then you’ll have a difficult game.”
